Directed by Alex Winter
A documentary chronicling the shared experiences of prominent former child stars and the personal and professional price of fame and failure on a child.
Дети в шоу-бизнесе, Enfants vedettes a Hollywood, Дети шоу-бизнеса, Los niños de Hollywood, ילדי השואוביז, Děti showbyznysu, Enfants vedettes à Hollywood, 쇼비즈 키즈, 童星, ดาราเด็ก, Детство в шоубизнеса
Netherlands6 
USA Netherlands USA 
Mara Wilson describing child fame as "feeling like when they sing Happy Birthday to you at a restaurant" is absolutely chilling.
mara wilson is a fucking legend and i could listen to her talk about her childhood for hours. this really made me want to buy her book! also it was so heartbreaking to watch cameron boyce in this so full of life and ambition when you think of what happened soon after this was filmed. RIP x
Some stray observations:
Milla Jovovich rules, although I'm disappointed she doesn't throw Luc Besson under the bus here.
The one kid going on all the auditions seems like a brat, is a bad actor and a serious ham, and it bummed me out how he's making his parents sort of miserable helping him chase this dream he shouldn't ever be allowed to catch.
Evan Rachel Wood should out the guy she says is a notorious pedophile, come on.
I still hate Wil Wheaton and I'm glad he seems so bent out of shape about how nobody likes him.
i knew the river segment was coming but it didn’t make it hurt any less 💔
Acting itself is difficult. Unlike a director, producer, or other staff representative of an audiovisual production, an actor is the face, the spokesperson for the production, placing them closer to the line of fire. Unfortunately, it's even worse when you don't have the maturity to handle all this pressure and you're even more vulnerable.
The HBO documentary showcases a group of actors who started out young, some of whom have achieved success after their childhoods, and narrates the positive and negative aspects of growing up in this business. Parallel to all of this, we follow these emerging actors and kids striving to achieve what all these individuals have accomplished, but as the documentary gets darker, it becomes more horrifying because…
Acting coach: Do you like doing this stuff?
Kid actor: (yaaaaaawn) Mmm-mmm.
Showbiz Kids is illuminating in its firsthand accounts of the affects of childhood stardom through various generations. Beyond that minimal intimacy it provides, there wasn’t a whole lot to chew through here. The structure made things feel much longer than they actually were, which worked but also felt a bit cumbersome at times.
All in all, I think Showbiz Kids scratches the surface in regards to the abuse inflicted on literal children in the industry but doesn’t do too much to dive deep enough to provide anything of long lasting change.
Wow. Such an eye-opener. I’ve seen a few of the documentaries that Alex Winter has made and he always produces quality content, balancing everything so well, there’s no heavy handed-ness even when the subject is very heavy like this. I thought the selection of interviewees were very interesting and their perspectives were so poignant and meaningful.
The big question I have is who was Evan Rachel Wood referring to at the 2017 Golden Globes? Off to Reddit to find out.
"a thing that i think people forget, at least in my experience people forget, you're not just talking about an actor. you're talking about a child. you're talking about a kid who is giving up their childhood to be in this thing that you're reviewing."
- Wil Wheaton
an intimate, sensitive, honest, and raw documentary about the pitfalls and rewards of Hollywood young stars. it's so sad knowing how much these child actors had to endure in film or tv industry and how much it affects to their future and adulthood.
without ever delving into sensationalism, Winter presents a calm, lucid and enlightening case for why kids should stay away from showbiz and parents shouldn't encourage them. i mean cmon....they…
No rating because Mr. Winter is a chum. Still, a fascinating survey of child actors, full of disquieting revelations about the disruptions that show business can cause in a child's development. I'd also never seen Henry Thomas's E.T. audition tape, which is mind-blowing. Spielberg gave him the job on the spot!
Definitely a sobering look at the realities of growing up in the business. The interviews with the child stars who "got out" should be required viewing for any parent who is thinking of putting their kids into this world. It was really fascinating to watch how their stories were mostly different, except for a few key incidents that seemed to effect them all such as trust issues, control issues, and of course and unfortunately issues with predatory adults. While it was probably good to balance these interviews with footage of two young people who are currently trying to book roles, we spend so little time with them that I was rarely interested in how things were going for them (also after hearing the horror stories from the former child stars, I found myself hoping they wouldn't make it anyways).
“my parents put me in shitty horror movies cause they dangled a trip to rome in front of my family. my mom being my manager was all her about needs. i went to work in a phenomenally abusive environment and had a terrible experience” :(
